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Dig Deeper: International Mother Language Day

By Abby Stinson

Today, Feb. 21, marks International Mother Language Day, a commemoration established by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to honor the linguistic diversity that enriches our world. Sadly, 40 percent of the world’s population lacks access to education in their “mother language,” or native tongue, leading to the loss of a language every two weeks and erasing valuable aspects of history and culture.  

This initiative, inaugurated in 1999 in Bangladesh, aims to “promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world,” according to the UN. The 2024 theme, “Multilingual education: a necessity to transform education,” underscores the significance of incorporation indigenous languages into education systems. To further this goal, the UN is convening an online panel event featuring experts in multilingual education from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. They also have named 2022-2032 as the “International Decade of Indigenous Languages”, ensuring an opportunity to collaborate and stimulate global change in this department.  

The preservation of languages is paramount for maintaining identity, facilitating communication, fostering social integration, promoting education, and driving development. For more information, read here: International Mother Language Day | United Nations.

Dig deeper and explore the resources below.


Abby Stinson ’26 VSB, is a Marketing and Business Analytics major and a student worker at Falvey Library.

 

 

 


 


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Dig Deeper: Peach Fuzz

PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz.


Color Culture 

The 2024 Pantone Color of the Year is Peach Fuzz (PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz to be exact!) The Pantone Color System provides a “universal language of color” to help individuals “define, communicate and control color from inspiration to realization – across various materials and finishes for graphics, fashion and product design.” Since 1999, Pantone selects a color to feature each year in the hopes of showcasing “the fundamental role color plays in our shared human experience.” Team members of the Pantone Color Institute choose the winning color after a year-long selection process. Check out this interview with Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute, for more information on the Pantone Color of the Year selection process.

PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz

Kindness and comfort are two prominently featured words associated with the 2024 Pantone Color of the Year. Peace is another word that embodies the winning color selection. “PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz is a velvety gentle peach whose all-embracing spirit enriches heart, mind, and body… At a time of turmoil in many aspects of our lives, our need for nurturing, empathy and compassion grows ever stronger as does our imaginings of a more peaceful future.” Check out all the ways you can use the color of the year on Pantone’s website.

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches People

Peach is Falvey’s unofficial color of the year as the library hosted many stress-busting events that featured numerous characters from Nintendo’s Mario franchise including Princess Peach. Giving a subtle shoutout to the pink-loving ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, we had to gave away candy peach rings. To continue the celebration of all things peach, stop by the library’s first floor to grab a free package of peach rings.

Still feeling peachy keen? Dig deeper and explore the resources below:

The actual fruit may not be the main subject of these resources but they’re a peach!


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library.

 

 


 


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Dig Deeper: Rosalynn Carter

By Shawn Proctor

Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford at National Women’s Conference in support of ERA in November 1977. Credit: The Carter Center

 

Rosalynn Carter, who became a leading mental health advocate after serving as First Lady, died Nov. 19.

The Carter Center, founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, to advance peace and health worldwide released a statement upon her death.

“For more than 50 years, Mrs. Carter was a tireless advocate for those living with mental illnesses, supporting practical measures and policy reforms to create parity for mental illnesses with physical illnesses in Georgia, the United States, and the rest of the world. She taught generations of journalists how to report about behavioral health in a way that reduces stigma and stimulates understanding and equitable treatment. She also advocated for caregivers, for acceptance of life-saving vaccinations for children and adults, for the elderly, for humane end of life, and even for the survival of the delicate and beautiful monarch butterfly.”

“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” President Carter said via statement. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”

Learn more about Rosalynn Carter, in her own words and through others, by exploring the resources below. Furthermore, discover how she fits into the timeline of First Ladies and addressed the pressing crises of the era.


 

 

Video: First Lady of Mental Health

 


Shawn Proctor Head shot

Shawn Proctor, MFA, is Communication and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Library.


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Dig Deeper: Award-Winning Authors to Visit Villanova on Tuesday, November 28


The Villanova Center for Irish Studies, in partnership with the Consul General of Ireland in New York, will welcome award-winning women writers from Northern Ireland to campus for an engaging literary panel discussion and readings around the topics of women’s rights, the sectarian divide, and social class on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 6 p.m. in the Topper Theater, John and Joan Mullen Performing Arts Center. Moderated by Irish author Yvonne Cassidy, the evening event will feature writers Lucy Caldwell (These Days), Jan Carson (The Raptures), and Michelle Gallen (Factory Girls).

This event is presented in partnership with Columbia University, NYU, and Georgetown University, with support from the Government of Ireland and Northern Ireland Bureau.

Co-sponsored by: Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership.

Supported by: Falvey Library, Department of English, Department of History, Department of Political Science, Department of Global & Interdisciplinary Studies, Gender & Women’s Studies, Center for Peace & Justice Education, Creative Writing Program, Writing Center, the St. Joseph’s University Irish Studies program, the Irish Diaspora Center of Philadelphia, and the Irish American Business Chamber & Network, Inc.

RSVP HERE to reserve your seat!

Dig deeper and explore the links below.

Lucy Caldwell

“Born in Belfast in 1981, Lucy Caldwell is the award-winning author of four novels, several stage plays and radio dramas, and two collections of short stories: Multitudes (Faber, 2016) and Intimacies (Faber, 2021). Her most recent novel, These Days, won the 2023 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.” (Lucy Caldwell official website.)

Jan Carson

“Her debut novel Malcolm Orange Disappears and short story collection, Children’s Children, were published by Liberties Press, Dublin. A micro-fiction collection, Postcard Stories was published by the Emma Press in 2017. Jan’s novel The Fire Starters was published by Doubleday in April 2019 and subsequently won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland 2019. She has been shortlisted for the Sean O’Faolain Short Story Prize, the BBC National Short Story Prize and An Post Irish Short Story of the Year Award,” and in 2016 won the Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Prize.” (Jan Carson official website.)

Michelle Gallen

“Michelle Gallen grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles a few miles from the border. She studied English Literature at Trinity College Dublin and Publishing at Stirling University. Her debut novel, Big Girl, Small Town, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Her critically acclaimed second novel, Factory Girls, won the Comedy Women in Print award and was shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award. Both books are being adapted for TV.” (Michelle Gallen official website.)

Yvonne Cassidy

“I was born in Dublin in 1974 and grew up in Dalkey, a small village about nine miles from the city centre. As a young adult I travelled a lot – summers in America, a year in Australia, a few years in London. In 2011, I moved to New York City where I live now with my wife. I’ve published four novels. I love to teach creative writing.” (Yvonne Cassidy official website.)


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library.

 

 


 


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Dig Deeper: Ned Blackhawk

Falvey Library’s Dig Deeper series explores topics of importance in our society and the news. It connects these subjects with resources available through the Library, so our faculty, students, and staff can explore and learn more, potentially sparking new research and scholarship.

The 74th annual National Book Awards Ceremony was held last week on Wednesday, Nov. 15. The National Book Awards are literary awards overseen by the National Book Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to “celebrate the best literature published in the United States, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture.” The Awards are granted in five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. Winners receive $10,000 along with a bronze statute.

This year, the National Book Award for Nonfiction was given to Ned Blackhawk for his book The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, which Falvey has digitally. This book is a reexamination of American history with Native Americans at the forefront. Blackhawk argues for the role Indigenous people played, and continued to play, in the development of democracy and the US as a nation. He showcases the strength and agency of Native communities in the face of violence and removal, and he outlines their ongoing efforts to regain autonomy.

Photo by Dan Renzetti

Ned Blackhawk is a historian from the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada. He is the Howard R. Lamar Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University. He graduated from McGill University and received graduate degrees in History from the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Washington. In addition to The Rediscovery of America, Blackhawk also wrote Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the early American West (also available for checkout at the Library), which studies the Great Basin tribes during the fight for the American West. His articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications such as The New York Times Book ReviewAmerican QuarterlyReviews in American HistoryThe American Historical ReviewEthnohistory, and The American Indian Culture and Research Journal.

 

 

 


Rebecca AmrickRebecca Amrick is a first year graduate student in the English Department and a Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.


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Dig Deeper: Banned Books Week

Falvey Memorial Library’s Dig Deeper series explores topics of importance in our society and the news. It connects these subjects with resources available through the Library, so our faculty, students, and staff can explore and learn more, potentially sparking new research and scholarship.

Photo by Mikolaj on Unsplash.com

Banned Books Week runs this year from Oct. 1-Oct. 7. Started in 1982, this week was organized in response to a sudden surge in the amount of books challenged in libraries, bookstores, and schools. This annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community—librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types—in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.

This year’s theme is “Let Freedom Read.” In fact, the last day of Banned Books Week (Oct. 7) is Let Freedom Read Day, where people are challenged take at least one action to help defend books from censorship. This action can simply be checking out or buying a banned book or donating one to your local library. If you want to do something more active, you could reach out to library administrators, school board members, and elected officials to make your voice heard.

The American Library Association (ALA) rejects censorship, fights for everyone’s right to read, and works to ensure free and easy access to books and information. This organization also keeps track of requested book bans and commonly challenged books. In 2022, the ALA recorded an unprecedented number of 1,269 book ban demands.

Every year, the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list of the 10 Most Challenged Books. The most recent list contains the thirteen most challenged books of 2022 (thirteen because some books are tied). If you’re interested in reading banned or challenged books, the OIF has an archive of the Top Ten Most Challenged Book Lists, going back to 2001.

The books listed below are from “The Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022” that are available at Falvey or through Interlibrary Loan:


Rebecca AmrickRebecca Amrick is a first year graduate student in the English Department and a Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

 


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Dig Deeper: Dolores Huerta

Photo from Tom Hilton on WikiMedia Commons

In her 93 years, Dolores Huerta, organizer and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association (now United Farm Workers) with Cesar Chavez, made significant strides in fighting for the rights of farm workers, women, and Hispanic Americans.

Political activism and organizing were a part of Dolores Huerta’s life from an early age. It might seem that Huerta followed in her father’s footsteps, as he was a union organizer and briefly a New Mexico legislator. However, according to her biography page from the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Huerta credits her mother Alicia’s independent, hardworking character for sparking a similar determination in her.

Growing up in Stockton, Calif., a culturally and ethnically diverse agricultural city with a significant population of low-income farm workers, Huerta saw early-on the troubling conditions farm workers were subjected to, with which her mother empathized. Despite her position as a divorced mother of three in the ’30s and ’40s, Alicia was equal parts savvy businesswoman and caring community leader, making her hotel a safe haven for low-income farm workers.

According to the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Dolores was always an active student and community member, but her story as an organizer really begins with her work with the Stockton Community Service Organization (CSO), where she met her organizing partner Cesar Chavez. Bonding over their shared goal of unionizing farm workers, Huerta and Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), the first U.S. labor union for farm workers, in 1962.

Photo from Susan Ruggles on WikiMedia Commons

Coming out of a time where gender roles and expectations were especially unyielding, during her work for the NFWA, Huerta strategically used her position as a Latina and as a divorced mother to her advantage. In her examination of the rhetoric of Dolores Huerta, Sowards reports instances of Huerta strategical bringing her children to (and breastfeeding at) negotiations and using tears and emotion to disrupt and subvert expectations in male-dominated spaces.

Perhaps her most significant contribution is her coining of “Sí, se puede,” which translates to “yes, we can,” according to Godoy’s NPR article about Huerta. What we now know as a famous Hispanic activist chant originated from Huerta’s rhetorical ingenuity and understanding of the importance of audience participation.

Huerta’s organizing branched out to the burgeoning feminist movement, even working with notable feminists like Gloria Steinem. She brought these issues to her work in the farm worker’s movement, challenging gender discrimination within the movement and in society as a whole.

Throughout her career, Dolores Huerta has continued to fight for the rights of marginalized people, including working-class women and Hispanic and Latine people. She has worked with countless organizations and causes, including the NFWA, National Boycott of California Table Grapes, Feminist Majority’s Feminization of Power: 50/50 by the Year 2000 Campaign, and 21st Century Party, to name a few. Even at the age of 93, with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, she continues to serve the community and work in activist spaces.

A decorated activist, Huerta’s accomplishments, which are perhaps too extensive to list in their entirety, include being award the Eleanor Roosevelt Humans Rights Award in 1988 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom under Obama, a noted admirer, in 2012.

Despite their work together, Cesar Chavez’s name tends to outshine Huerta’s in the public’s recollection. Yet, for her tireless dedication to organizing for marginalized people, Dolores Huerta deserves to be remembered, especially during Hispanic Heritage Month, as the compassionate, dedicated  “Dragon Lady” she is.

Dig deeper and explore the links below for more on Dolores Huerta and her contributions.

Resources on Dolores Huerta at Falvey:

Other resources on Huerta:


Annie Stockmal is a second-year graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.


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Dig Deeper: Three Irish Poets on Sustainability


Please join us for readings from three acclaimed Irish poets, Jane Clarke, Katie Donovan, and Catherine Phil MacCarthy on Monday, Sept. 25, from 5-6:30 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner. This event, titled “Wonders and Realities: Three Irish Poets on Sustainability,” will explore how poetry helps us fine-tune our senses and pay attention to the wonders and realities of our threatened world.

Dig deeper and explore the links below for more information on the featured poets.

Jane Clarke grew up in County Roscommon, Ireland. She is the author of three poetry collections: The River, When the Tree Falls, and A Change in the Air. The latter is shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2023. When the Tree Falls was shortlisted for the Pigott Prize 2020, the Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2020, and the Farmgate Café National Poetry Award in 2020.

Katie Donovan was born near Camolin in County Wexford, Ireland and earned degrees from Trinity College Dublin as well as the University of California at Berkeley. Her five books of poetry have all been published by Bloodaxe Books. Her most recent, Off-Duty appeared in September 2016. It was shortlisted for the Irish Times/Poetry Now Prize in 2017. She is the 2017 recipient of the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry.

Catherine Phil MacCarthy was born in County Limerick, Ireland. The author of five poetry collections, she studied at University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, and Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She is the 2014 winner of the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry. The Arts Council, An Comhairle Ealaíon, have awarded her a Bursary in Literature towards each of her 2013 and 2020 poetry collections.

This ACS-approved event, co-sponsored by the Center for Irish Studies, Falvey Library, and Global Interdisciplinary Studies, is free and open to the public.


Julia Wagner ‘26 CLAS is a Communication major from New Hampshire (Go Patriots!). She works as a Communication & Marketing Student Assistant at Falvey Library. Links provided by Kallie Stahl, Communication & Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. 

 

 

 


 


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Dig Deeper: Sinéad O’Connor

Sinéad O'Connor. Image courtesy of Michel Linssen (Getty Images).

Sinéad O’Connor. Image courtesy of Michel Linssen (Getty Images).


“Maybe it was mean, but I really don’t think so. You asked for the truth and I told you.”— Sinéad O’Connor

Shuhada’ Sadaqat (previously Magda Davitt), known professionally as Sinéad O’Connor, Grammy Award-winning artist, passed away Wednesday, July 26, at the age of 56. The Irish singer-songwriter was known for her “powerful, evocative voice” and her “political provocations onstage and off.”

O’Connor was discovered by Paul Byrne, a drummer with ties to the Irish band U2, when she sang “Evergreen,” the theme from A Star Is Born at a wedding. She would go on to release 10 studio albums. Her breakout album, 1990’s “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” included O’Connor’s cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” The album won O’Connor a Grammy Award in 1991 for best alternative music performance.

Through her life, O’Connor spoke out against abuse in the Catholic Church, social injustice, commercialism, and misogyny in the music industry. She was also an advocate for mental health. Never backing down in her convictions, which “became increasingly erratic” towards the end of her life, O’Connor “rarely shrank from controversy, but it often came with consequences for her career.” As she stated in her memoir, “Everyone wants a pop star, see?…But I am a protest singer. I just had stuff to get off my chest. I had no desire for fame.” O’Connor did just that, as Dave Holmes writes in Esquire, “Ireland on the day of Sinéad’s death is vastly different from the country she was born into…A once-repressive country has become one of the world’s most progressive.”

Dig deeper to learn more about O’Connor.

Falvey Library Resources:

Additional Resources:

References:


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library.

 

 


 


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This Blog’s Everything. He’s Just Ken.

By Kallie Stahl 

To quote the band Aqua, “I’m a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie world.”

If you’ve read Shawn Proctor’s blog, or you’ve seen the numerous memes surrounding this summer’s biggest rival, then you know it’s Oppenheimer vs. Barbie. Proctor covered Christopher Nolan’s film on Wednesday, and I felt Barbie deserved equal coverage. After all, she’s everything. He’s just Ken.

"Barbie" film poster. Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Short Review:

Both films hit theatres Friday, July 21. I didn’t score tickets to an early screening of Barbie (as Proctor did with Oppenheimer), so I’ll leave the review to Manohla Dargis of the New York Times:

“Like Air, Ben Affleck’s recent movie about how Nike signed Michael Jordan, as well as other entertainments tethered to their consumer subjects, Barbie can only push so hard. These movies can’t damage the goods, though I’m not sure most viewers would want that; our brands, ourselves, after all. That said, [director] Greta Gerwig does much within the material’s inherently commercial parameters, though it isn’t until the finale — capped by a sharply funny, philosophically expansive last line — that you see the Barbie that could have been. Gerwig’s talents are one of this movie’s pleasures, and I expect that they’ll be wholly on display in her next one — I just hope that this time it will be a house of her own wildest dreams.”

View Barbie showtimes here.

The Story Behind the Movie:

Fast facts courtesy of www.barbiemedia.com and USA Today:

  • Barbie was created by Mattel in 1959 (Ken joined her in 1961).
  • Barbie was invented by Ruth Handler (Mattel was co-founded by Handler and her husband Elliot).
  • The initial idea for Barbie came to Handler after watching her daughter play with paper dolls.
  • Barbie was modeled after the Bild Lilli doll (Mattel bought the rights to the doll and made their own).
  • Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts (named after Handler’s daughter, Barbara. Ken is named after her son, Kenneth).
  • Her birthday is March 9, 1959, the day she was unveiled to the toy industry during New York Toy Fair.
  • Barbie is from (fictional) Willows, Wisconsin.
  • Her first outfit? Black-and-white striped swimsuit.
  • Barbie’s signature color is Barbie Pink (PMS 219).
  • She’s had over 250 different occupations.
  • It takes more than 100 people to create a Barbie doll and her fashions.
  • Barbie is the most popular fashion doll ever produced and the No. 1 fashion doll property.
  • More than 100 Barbie dolls are sold every minute.
  • The best-selling Barbie doll? The 1992 Totally Hair™ Barbie.
  • Over 18 billion minutes of Barbie user-generated content is created every year.

Further Reading with Falvey Library Resources:

References:


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. Some of her favorite Barbie dolls of the 90’s: Bead Blast Barbie Doll, Olympic Gymnast Barbie Doll, Movin’ Groovin’ Barbie Doll, and Dorothy Barbie Doll (The Wizard of Oz). 

 


 


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Last Modified: July 20, 2023

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